Apple may be having another M1 moment – the new Apple silicon, the C1 modem in this case, is beating the silicon it came to replace, Qualcomm’s 5G modem, at least in some metrics. Ookla, the company behind the popular Speedtest service, published a report that compares 5G speeds between the iPhone 16 (Snapdragon X71 modem) and the new iPhone 16e (Apple C1).
In summary, the Qualcomm modem offers higher top speeds, but the C1 did better in cases where network speeds were slow. Ookla’s test covers the top 3 carriers in the US, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, but here is the overall chart first.
Among users experiencing poor network speeds, the 10th percentile of all tests, the 16e edged out the 16 with 27.35Mbps vs. 16.66Mbps. It even has a small advantage in the median test. It’s only in the 90th percentile – the ones getting high speed connections – when the Qualcomm-based phone comes out on top.
Here is a per-carrier breakdown, which shows that in cases of poor network connectivity, the iPhone 16e outperforms the iPhone 16 across the board.
However, when the network speeds are good, the iPhone 16 turns the tables on the 16e:
Apple is reportedly working on a variant of the C1 with mmWave connectivity, but lacking the faster 5G flavor didn’t hurt the iPhone 16e much. mmWave coverage is spotty even in the US and in some countries it is nonexistent. Instead, Ookla’s results have identified a bigger issue for the C1 modem.
T-Mobile users got the highest downlink speeds whether they had the iPhone 16 or 16e. However, among T-Mobile subscribers, those with the 16e got noticeably lower speeds than those with an iPhone 16. Ookla attributes this to T-Mobile’s nationwide rollout of 5G StandAlone (SA) and better deployment of carrier aggregation (CA).
There are no official stats for the X71, but Qualcomm’s mid-range modems support 4-link CA for download, while the C1 tops out at 3. Interestingly, Qualcomm’s modems also support uplink carrier aggregation, whereas the C1 does not. And yet look at the upload speed results across all three carriers – the iPhone 16e handily beats its pricier sibling.
This is an impressive first outing for Apple. In future C1 versions and the C2, the company should focus on improving 5G SA and carrier aggregation support, which should boost its high-end performance. mmWave support would be nice, but wouldn’t make much of a difference in a lot of regions.
Apple also claims that the C1 is the most efficient 5G modem that has been used on an iPhone yet. The iPhone 16e officially lasts 21 hours of video streaming, while the iPhone 16 lasts 18 hours. This is with a larger battery (4,005mAh vs. 3,561mAh), though. And to be fair to Qualcomm, the X71 is older than the company’s current modems.
This isn’t the whole story – Ookla says it is working on a more detailed report that compares the whole iPhone 16 series. This report ends with a teaser – apparently, the iPhone 16 Pro Max beats the 16e in “most performance metrics”. The Pro Max uses the same X71 modem, so the difference comes from elsewhere (the antennas, perhaps?).
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